


Watchful Thinking

by kesshou



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Universe, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 19:44:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10556654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kesshou/pseuds/kesshou
Summary: Eren who has only recently been put under Levi's care suffers from nightmares.





	

**Author's Note:**

> As means to celebrate the release of season 2, I decided to finally upload my fic from tumblr on here which I've been meaning to do for ages now. Maybe with the occasional previously unreleased oneshot thrown in, should I decide to write on a whim.  
> So there's a chance this might turn into a series of oneshots later on.

Everything was dark. And hot, so unbearably _hot_ , Eren thought. Redness mixed into the darkness, endlessly winding and dragging him down with it. He was inside the titan form but couldn't control it. That was the most terrifying feeling of all. Being enclosed entirely by the titan, almost unable to breathe, and then losing control over it. Eren felt himself pulled down again by lethargy. He couldn't move a single muscle. He couldn't even -

The scenery changed. His mother was now appearing before him. But nothing like he remembered her. Her gentle smile and soft voice were taken over by the steaming heat. A crashing sound filled his ears. The house walls were crushed, debris sent flying. It was a titan's attack! And Eren couldn't do anything apart from watching in horror as his mother was once again stuck under the fallen lumps of their former house. No, he thought, not this again. Not that memory...

“Mom!“, he tried to yell but no sounds would come out. It seemed like he was rendered paralyzed and mute, being doomed to see his mother die before his eyes once again. And the heat was scorching now...

“No! Mom, no!“ He desperately tried to move his body, to squirm away from the heat. _Anything..._ But it was all in vain. Instead, he watched terrified as his mother was pulled out from the wreckage by a large titan's hand. His silent screams became more frantic as she was lifted up closer to the titan's grinning mouth. He was begging now, begging and screaming and wriggling but couldn't do anything against the inevitable. His mother was to be devoured by that titan all the same. Just as the giant monster bit down, sending gallons of blood flying, Eren woke up from the dream.

His eyes flew open right as his subconsciousness sent him thankfully back to reality, sparing him from the worst images and sounds yet to come.

Heart pounding maniacally in his chest, he found himself staring at no other than Corporal Levi's face as the shorter man was leaning over his form.

“C-Corporal?”, Eren managed to get out. His voice sounded raspy and he was still breathing hard, puffing air into the Corporal's stern face with each exhalation, “What are you doing here?”

“I noticed you were having a rather fitful rest and I had to make sure that you stayed asleep instead of accidentally turning and getting us all killed”, Levi explained dryly.

Eren tried to prop himself up on the bed but found that his arms were laid out somewhere beside his head. It almost seemed like the Corporal had held him down at the wrists earlier to prevent him from lashing out in his sleep. Maybe that was the reason why Eren had dreamed of some kind of restriction that had managed to finally wake him up...

The older one was still slightly leaning over him and then moved to sit on the edge of the bed, facing away from Eren. “That was a nightmare, Jaeger, wasn't it?”

Eren, having regained his breath, stayed silent. He scrubbed his face roughly in frustration about the dream that just simply didn't want to leave him alone. Even after all those years... His cheeks were hot from anger and his eyes were just slightly stinging which indicated they would likely begin watering up soon. Dammit... At least the Corporal wasn't looking at him right now.

“Answer me, Jaeger. That's an order”, came the other's gruff voice.

The brown-haired boy left one hand resting against his eyes as some kind of barrier. He felt so uptight right now, so unsettled. That particular dream always left him with this sinking feeling in his gut and bitter taste in his mouth. He sure as hell didn't wanna talk about it to make things worse. But not wanting to be hit square in the face again for not following orders, he figured he'd have to say at least something. “My mother”, he mumbled, “died in the assault on Shiganshina.”

He more or less had his eyes closed, so he couldn't see the corporal's reaction. He only felt a warm presence next to his body as the older man was still sitting casually on his bed with the languidness of a superior officer.

Eren somehow found it easier to talk with this makeshift blindness. Suddenly, he couldn't stop what was welling up inside him. “She was stuck under some rubble and I couldn't get her out in time.” He found it strange, talking with his voice that suddenly sounded so thin and frail. “Then a titan came. He lifted her up like a toy and... and -” Eren's breath hitched. Talking about what happened always awoke his absolute disgust for the titans. He started shaking from his conviction of killing every single one of them that was now bubbling up again, blinking away stray tears that he swore didn't come free.

All of a sudden, he could feel his hand that rested on the mattress being touched. He opened his eyes and turned his head to find Levi's hand gripping his own tightly. The other was still looking in the opposite direction from Eren.

“Corporal?”, he questioned.

“There are a lot of soldiers who joined the military after having experienced traumatic events. You're not the only one, Jaeger.”

The younger man blinked at that. What was Corporal Levi leading at? That Eren wasn't the only one... Was he maybe even trying to comfort him in some way? He really wanted to see the other's face right now to check.

Breathing seemed easier after this somehow. Eren could slightly feel calluses on the corporal's hand if he concentrated on it. He thought about humanity's strongest and how he used those hands everyday to fight in a whirlwind of blades and blood and wires. Corporal Levi's hand felt warm, alive.

“What do you mean by that? Do you mean, you've -” The green-eyed boy was cut short.

“Get yourself some rest”, Levi said, standing up. “We need you to be on the spot tomorrow.”

Before Eren could think of a decent response, he had exited the room, shutting the door firmly behind him and leaving the other once again alone in his safety prison for the night.

So, Eren wasn't the only one who had lost his family at an early age. It wasn't that much of a surprise, really. But still... He didn't know a single thing about Corporal Levi's background. Why had the Corporal mentioned such things to him?


End file.
